


The Heart You Call Home

by stardropdream



Category: Kobato, xxxHoLic
Genre: Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 09:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/637633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/pseuds/stardropdream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walking home one day, Kobato runs into a girl crying by herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Heart You Call Home

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LJ January 7, 2009.

She moved very slowly, walking a few steps at a time, her head ducked down and tears slipping past tightly clenched eyes. When she looked up, she wasn’t quite seeing anything, speaking to someone that wasn’t there, or perhaps to herself. She swallowed and slowly turned around behind her, sniffling once.

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking behind her, tears running down her face, and hand touching something on her back. “I’m happy to have met you, too.”

Kobato hesitated only for a moment, thinking that, perhaps, she’d intruded on something private. But at the same time, the tears undoubtedly meant a broken heart. She sprang into action, rushing forward, one hand holding down her hat and the other reaching for the crying girl. “Are you okay!?”

The girl looked startled as Kobato approached, green eyes widening with each step. Then, blinking a few times, she desperately wiped her eyes free of the tears. Her eyes were still wide, still puffy, and still wet. But she was still blinking, trying to banish the appearance. She smiled widely and said, “I’m just fine, please don’t worry about me!”

It was Kobato’s turn to look startled. “You’re smiling!”

The girl blinked again as Kobato touched the girl’s lips with her fingertips. Her green eyes widened in surprise at the light touch, frozen to the spot, desperately fighting back tears. Kobato looked intensely at that smile, unsure what to make of it. They stayed like that for a moment, Kobato puzzling over how someone could go from crying to smiling so instantly. The girl’s lips quivered.

“Someone told me,” Kobato began, uncharacteristically hesitant, “That the first step to helping people is smiling.” As if to prove this, she, too, started smiling, despite her confusion with the situation. She dropped her hand and clasped her hands together. “But your smile looks sad, why is that?”

The girl laughed, but it sounded pained. The smile didn’t reach her impossibly sad eyes, scraping across her face like sandpaper. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, don’t worry over me.”

“But if you’re hurt, I want to help!” Kobato protested.

Kobato sagged as the girl shook her head. Her sandpaper smile quirked her lips painfully upward. “I’m not the one who needs help.”

“Is someone else hurt?”

“Yes,” she said, her expression downcast.

“But you’re hurt, too!”

The girl smiled at her again, wide and seemingly genuine. She shook her head, slowly. “I’m the one who hurts others.” She paused, looking as if perhaps she said something she shouldn’t have. Instead, she swallowed and continued, “I only get what I deserve.”

Kobato wasn’t sure what to do or say to that, so she grabbed the girl’s hands and held them tight. She stared hard into her face, determined.

“Let’s go get something to drink!”

“E-eh?”

 

\---

 

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Kobato promised as she sat the girl down on a park bench. With that, she ran off to buy some juice for the two of them, digging around in her jacket pocket for some coins she could spare for the sake of a broken heart.

Ioryogi popped his head out from the bag under her arm. “Be careful of that girl.”

“Why?” Kobato skidded to a halt.

“She has a strange aura. I’ve never felt anything like it before,” he muttered, looking back over his shoulder at the girl on the park bench in the distance, her curly black hair wavering in the wind.

“I don’t understand,” Kobato admitted, torn between listening to the plush dog or protesting his insistence for her to stay away. That girl… she seemed so sad. But also kind.

“You wouldn’t,” the plush dog muttered. “Just be wary. Try not to stay near her for too long.”

“… Okay,” Kobato said, looking uncertain. She grabbed the cans of juice with both hands and they went tumbling from her hands. “Ah!”

“Dobato…” the blue plush growled, orange juice slogging his head and dripping off of him. The cans rolled uselessly on the ground, empty.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Kobato cried as she dug around the pocket of her jacket for a handkerchief. She patted at Ioryogi’s head until he was seemingly clean. She looked back at the girl, sitting alone at the bench. “Even so… she seems like a nice person, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps.”

“But she’s smiling now so maybe…” She dug around her bag for the bottle and it clinked as she pulled it out. She counted the number of hard candies within the glass bottle and sighed. “I didn’t heal her heart.”

“People who smile aren’t always happy,” her companion reminded. Kobato frowned, thinking, but Ioryogi continued, “Sometimes people smile so others won’t worry, or because they want to believe everything is okay.”

“I guess…” Kobato said lightly, looking stricken at the idea.

She bought two new cans of juice with the last of her money and ran back to the girl on the bench. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“I don’t mind,” she said gently, smiling despite her eyes being red around the edges, the only evidence of the tears Kobato had seen her shedding earlier.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why were you crying before?” Kobato asked, hesitant.

The girl gave a watery smile. She hesitated for a moment, weighing her words and searching Kobato’s face. She must have found something, because the girl ducked her head and said, “I thought someone very precious to me was going to die because of me.”

“Die?” Kobato interrupted before she could stop herself. She clamped a hand over her mouth, blinking in shock.

“Yeah,” the girl said quietly. “But he was able to live… And I was very happy. I thought he wouldn’t want to be anywhere near me after that but instead he said ‘I was happy to have met you.’”

“That’s wonderful!” Kobato said, “He must care about you a lot!”

To Kobato’s surprise, the girl started crying. She ducked her head and the hand holding her can of juice shook violently. Kobato wasn’t sure what happened until she heard a sob and the girl spoke.

“He wasn’t supposed to,” she cried. “The next time he could be dead because of me!”

“But—”

“But I want to be near him. When he said that to me,” she sobbed, “I was so happy because I wanted to stay with him, too. But that’s selfish because I should go far away and leave him alone so that he can live.” She curled into herself, crying. “I just want Watanuki-kun to be safe. And happy.”

“But what about you?” Kobato protested, her own eyes threatening tears.

“I’ll be happy when he’s happy,” she said miserably, staring down at her feet.

“But if you’re alone, won’t that be lonely?” Kobato asked, fighting back tears in her attempts to remain strong for this girl. “Wouldn’t he be unhappy if he knew you were by yourself?”

The girl was quiet, the only movement the wind through her hair.

“I know,” she said at last. “I guess either way I’m being selfish, huh?”

“If you want to be near him,” Kobato insisted, grabbing the girl’s hands again after setting her juice can on the bench between them. “Then it’s okay because he feels the same way. Anyone would be happy to have such a good person as their friend!”

The girl lifted her head and peered up at Kobato, but Kobato remained firm, smiling and nodding her head.

“… Maybe,” the girl finally relented. She smiled a bit hesitantly, tears collecting still at the corner of her eyes.

Kobato nodded her head. “I know it!” She beamed at the girl. “So don’t forget, promise?”

“I promise,” she whispered.

“Oh!” Kobato said, remembering. “My name is Hanato Kobato! It’s nice to meet you!”

“I’m Kunogi Himawari…”

“I’ll be sure to remember that, Kunogi-san!” Kobato said, beaming.

“Hanato-san, too,” she agreed softly.

“Let’s both work hard.”

 

\---

 

Kobato didn’t check her jar until she got home—which almost didn’t happen. While crossing the street her glove got caught in a passing bicycle and she was nearly run over. And she kept dropping things, including her keys. Ioryogi had hunches to the sudden bad luck, but didn’t voice these theories.

The girl cradled the jar to her chest, once safely back home in her barren apartment. A new hard candy rolled around with the others.

“I hope she can be happy now,” she said.

“Hmph,” said Ioryogi.


End file.
